In this message, our speaker, Mr. Steve Durham, will discuss "Are We Our Brother's Keeper" and its relevance in today's society. Steve mentions the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine as an example of the world's inability to get along and be each other. He also talks about the roots of this conflict going back to biblical times, using examples such as Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau. Steve then highlights the importance of self-examination and self-control in overcoming negative emotions like envy, jealousy, and pride. Mr. Durham emphasizes the need to love and care for one another, both within and outside the church, referencing scriptures that encourage humility, forgiveness, and having the mind of Christ. Finally, Steve concludes by stating that we should love one another and not be like Cain, who killed his brother out of jealousy.
So welcome, everyone. It's always good to see you all. Tonight we're going to talk about, Am I My Brother's Keeper? That is the title. I want to read a scripture that we all know, we see on billboards, we see all around, we see in society today. Everyone knows this scripture. Most people, anyway, they're churchgoers. But it has a lot to do with being our brother's keeper. I'll just go ahead and read it. It's 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14.
2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. If my people, now those are the people, the Spirit, Church of God, and the physical people, when he wrote this, when he had it inspired, but it also is for us today. If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.
Very important scripture. If they would just do that, things would be so much different, wouldn't they? Look at the state of the world today. Look around us, and just recently, about a month ago, we had headlines, the old age old conflict in the Middle East flared up again. And we don't see much advancement as far as being our brother's keeper, do we? We go way back to being enabled. We think about that. And there is evidence that this, and my brother's keeper, plays out in the news today.
The world can't seem to get along, can they? Israel versus Hamas, the Palestinians. Israel and the Arabs. Now, I'm not going to talk about that tonight specifically, but I do want to read a headline to you that was in the paper a couple, three or four weeks ago, I guess it was, when it flared up. It says, a surprise coordinated assault on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas. One of the deadliest and most brazen attacks in years.
And the Israeli siege and strikes on Gaza that followed brought renewed attention to an old and continuing problem, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has vexed the Middle East for decades. And we all know, if you've been in the church for a while, we know where those roots go. They go way back. They go way back. It's an age-old conflict. It started with two brothers. Actually, it started, it carried on, two brothers and then another couple brothers that were twins.
So we're going to talk about that later. But much disagreement over these two brothers in the history of mankind. It goes way back. It goes even further back than 1948. It goes way back. But they just can't seem to get along. You think about Isaac and Ishmael. We have Isaac and Ishmael. And Isaac was the chosen, the son of promise. And Ishmael was not. Well, but God blessed Ishmael greatly and made a great nation out of the 12 sons, the 12 tribes later on.
So they were well-blessed. But God's purpose was with Abraham and Isaac. And then it flowed down into Jacob and Esau, the twins. And we'll talk about that a little later. Sibling rivalry and contention between family members and even church members. It doesn't stop in the world. It comes on in to the church sometimes because we are family. We definitely are. And we seem to have the common problems today sometimes as teen and able. We're not killing each other.
We're not going out in the field and killing someone. But we are with our words. We are with our thoughts. And we are with our attitudes and our motives. So we have to guard against that. And we have to think about that. And we're going to look at what God says about this subject tonight. They can't get along because of envy, jealousy, bitterness, and pride. And all of those ramifications of those negative, if you want to call them the fruits of the flesh, the spirit.
Flesh, not spirit. Not the fruits of the spirit. But they're negatives. They get the best of us, don't they? And we're not showing agape love and forbearance and forgiveness to our brothers. In the church and out of the church. So the famous statement, am I my brother's keeper? Over and over we hear that through, you know, in time. We may not even have said it ourselves. But people will say, well, you'll hear it in another way.
They'll say, well, that's not my problem. Don't tell me about that. That's not my problem. I don't have anything to do with that. He's not my responsibility. It's not my day of watching. You know, I'm going to get over on him, and I'm going to get what's due to me, and I don't care what happens to him. This is not the attitude that God wants us to have, is it? Are you your brother's keeper? And that way we're not when we have that attitude.
And when the world has that attitude, as we see in the conflicts around. And that attitude is growing more and more prevalent as time goes on. So, again, this has its roots in Genesis 4, 9. Genesis 4, 9. We talked about Cain and Abel. So let's look there. I'll just briefly go through it real quickly. But our responsibility is to care for our brother. So we are our brother's keeper. But let's look what happened with Cain and Abel.
The Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? And he said, I do not know. And he said, I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper? Abel was the keeper of the sheep. Cain, a worker of the ground. Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. And Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flocks and of the fat portions. And God had regard for Abel and his offering. But for Cain and his offering, he had no regard.
So Cain got very angry. Why did he get angry? And his face fell. His countenance fell. And God said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your face fallen? You know, those are things we need to ask ourselves when we get in these situations. Why am I angry? Why am I so upset? What's the problem? And do some self-examination. Especially with the spring coming up. The spring holy days coming up. We need to do that.
We need to do that all year long. He says, and if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is contrary to you. But you must rule over it. So you see, we have some self-control to do. We have some examination to do when we have those feelings that come up. And, you know, we're all carnal. We're all human. We have God's Holy Spirit and we're overcoming.
But every once in a while those come up. They pop up. And they do. This is what we need to do. We need to sit on them. Think about them. And evaluate why we feel the way we do. And how should we feel. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother. So he carries it on, see. He speaks to his brother Abel. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? And again, he said, I do not know.
Am I my brother's keeper? So this has been an age old, from the very beginning of man up until now, we've seen this attitude and this motive. And it comes through Satan and his feelings, his emotions, his emoting, his negative thoughts that come at us constantly. He's the prince of the power of the air. So we know where it comes from, the spirit of murder, of lying, of deceit, and all the things that go along with that, jealousy, envy, bitterness, resentment, revenge, all those.
It's not pleasing to God. And he takes action, we're going to see. He takes action against those who don't learn the lesson. In Matthew 22, 34 through 38, we talk about that all the time. We are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves. And then he goes on, and the lawyer says, well, who is my neighbor? And we're going to talk about that. Who is our neighbor? So it's alive and well today.
It hasn't been extinguished. It's here. We have to check ourselves. We have to, and as we look at the news, we see what it is for what it is and where it comes from. As brethren and family members, the question is, how are we to become our brother's keeper? How are we to be our brother's keeper? Again, jealousy, envy, pride. These are the reasons why Cain and Abel couldn't get along, Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob, and on and on.
And it's here close to us today. And I'm going to show you a situation that I recently came across. You know, think about Cain. One brother gets more attention. He's like maybe gets, the other one gets left out. People find it hard to be reconciled to one another when pride gets in the way. They don't want anyone to get over on them. They don't want, really, they don't care to be reconciled at that point. It takes humility and a contrite spirit to let it go.
It takes God's Holy Spirit to do it properly. So this happens within the church too. We need to think about how we look toward our family members and our brothers. We're to become like Christ. Christ wants us to be that, to have his mind in us. Let his mind be in you, which is in Jesus Christ in Philippians 2 and 5. And Christ wants us to be like him in that he says in Matthew 11, 29, Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly.
Meek doesn't mean you're weak. Meek means you aren't retaliating, that you have forbearance and you have patience and you have forgiveness. And lowly in heart. And you shall find rest for your soul. When you're not fighting, you're at peace. When you're at peace, everything seems, everything is at rest. And that's the way God wants us to be. Tender and lowly. No guile found in his mouth, we see in Isaiah 53. He didn't retaliate. And humanly, we want to retaliate, don't we? We don't want anybody to get over on us.
But Christ saw everyone as his brother and his friend. And he saw them as family. In 1 John 3, verse 11, he says, 1 John 3, verse 11, For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain, who was the wicked one, and murdered his own brother. And what was the reason that he murdered him? Because his own works were wicked, but his brother's works were righteous.
And we're going to see that persecution more and more. You know, he talks about that in Matthew 5. We experience that in our own families. Those that aren't in the church that don't understand, especially at this time of the year. Sometimes those flare up. We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren. What is that life? That's eternal life, isn't it? The one who does not love his brother is dwelling in death.
Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, just like Cain. And you know that no murderer has eternal life dwelling in him. By this very act, we have known the love of God because he laid down his life for us. And we, ourselves, are to lay down our lives for the brethren. And we're going to see that in a real life example toward the end of the message here. But we're to do that on a regular basis.
We're to have that attitude and that heart and that mind. That we'll give ourselves, you know, what can I do for you? What can you do for me? It's outgoing. It's love. It's agape love. John 15, 12. This is where we would go to where Christ said, you know, he would lay down his life for his friends. This is my commandment, that you love one another and have love as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
You have to think about how that's another sermon. How that, the detail in that, what that is. That's an attitude of heart and mind. It's not lip service. He says, you are my friends if you do what I command you. This is really the key in being a brother's keeper, isn't it? So when you're not fighting again, there's peace. When you're in conflict, there's strife. Civil rivalry today is the same as it was then. But Christ will reconcile the world to himself and to one another someday.
He's coming back to do that. Again, what is the cause of Cain getting angry? Enable. Envy. Jealousy. Bitterness. And pride. It came between him and his brother. The same way with Jacob and Esau. The same way with Isaac and Ishmael. And there's Joseph and the Twelve. And all these, some of these were reconciled. Some of these was worked out. And that's good. So again, sibling rivalry is still real today. And it's serious. It can cut deep.
Last a lifetime. Or for generations. Disagreements between brothers, one in the church and one not in the church. But there's still disagreements. And they still hurt. I want to tell you about a true story that I recently encountered. One individual was in the church and the other was not. They were brothers. They are brothers. So it's a recent story about two brothers. You could almost pull it out of the words of God, the pages of the Bible.
These two siblings were brothers. The younger was the inheritor of the family farm. And how did this happen since he was the younger? Even though he was the youngest of the two, it seems that the father was disappointed with the older brother because he didn't believe in the religion of the father. The father did not like the fact that his older son was not a Catholic and did not adhere to the Catholic religion or the Catholic faith.
He didn't like that. And he didn't like his choice. So what he did was since the younger brother did and was a Catholic and went along with the father's religion, he gave the farm and irrevocable trust to the younger brother in writing. And this disowned him and cut him out of the will, the older brother. The older brother didn't realize this until later on after his father had died. The father gave all the rights to the younger brother on the family farm, which was valued at several million dollars.
And it went to the younger Catholic brother. When the older disinherited brother realized that the father, what he had done, he approached the younger brother. He was hurt. He approached the younger brother that he loved and asked him to have compassion on him. After all, they were brothers and they were family. And he asked for at least a share in the mineral rights. And they had some oil wells on the property and they had minerals on the property.
And if and when they become profitable, can I have half? Would that be okay, you know? And the younger brother said, yeah. He said, that will work, no problem. He said, I'll do that. Well, the older brother had been helping his younger brother on the farm for several years. And then he found out one day at the table that this was the case. And he asked for the mineral rights and there were half of them. But he continued because he loved him.
The older brother continued to work the farm. For 15 years, he worked the farm. And one day the oil wells came in, okay? And they hit, they became profitable. And the older brother asked the younger brother if he could receive some of the properties that they had agreed on, to which the younger brother said, I don't remember that. I don't remember saying anything, nothing like that. And the older brother assured him that he had promised him a share.
And the younger brother said, well, if I did, I do not ever intend to give you anything. Not even a dime. So, very hurt, the older brother was shocked. Thought about it and continued to work for him, for the farm, for the family, even in this situation. He finished up the harvest, which he did every year, planting and harvest. He would stay with the farm and then he would come back home. Well, this year he packed up and left for home after the harvest.
And he got home and he called his older brother, younger brother, and he said he was trying to get ahold of him and tell him he was home. Well, he didn't answer the phone. And he called and he called and he called. Pretty soon he realized there was something wrong. So, he called the neighbor, asked him to go down. The neighbor went down and checked on the younger son. And he was laid over, his coffee cup dead.
He had died at the same table that they had made that agreement, the same table that he told him he wasn't going to pay him. He had died on the trip back home. So, the older brother got in the car and went down to see him, check the funeral arrangements and the house, and returned home with nothing but a few items of sentimental value and a major disappointment in his brother, whom he still loved. This is a cold story, isn't it? I mean, it's such a cold story you think it was not real.
But it was. It is. The resentment and the hate the younger brother had toward his older brother and his father had toward the older brother is unbelievable. These two never had a chance to reconcile. They will someday. So, when he told me about it, the older brother told me about this, and I was shocked too. I thought about the love of many waxing cold. And so, we thought and tried to encourage him. He did very well with it and was visibly disappointed, as he should be, because he loved his younger brother.
And so, I reminded him of a couple of things, the hope of eternal life that we have and the family of God, and that the younger brother didn't have, but he would be someday. And at that time, he would be able to talk to him and explain to him, and they would be able to hug and understand and be reconciled once again. I also said, you know, the pistol isn't where it's at. It's not the person, but the true treasures that he was waiting for, if he endured to the end.
In Matthew 6.19, Christ talked about that. He says in Matthew 6.19, Do not store up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth and rust spoil, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourself in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And he certainly showed where his heart was by his response and reaction and the way he graciously handled the whole situation.
Now, the two brothers had different outlooks on life, didn't they? And I told him about this story about the man in Luke 12. We recounted that story. He tore down his arms. The story goes like this in Luke 12. Then one from the multitude said to him, Master, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, Man, who has appointed me a judge or a divider over you? And he said to them, Watch out and keep yourselves from covetousness, for no one's life is in the abundance of the things that he possesses.
Then he tells this story. Christ tells the story about the parable of the ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly. And he was reasoning within himself, saying, What shall I do? What am I going to do with all this? For I have nowhere to lay it up. Now he says, You know what I'll do? I'll tear down my grainers, and I'll build grain rooms. There I will lay up all my produce and all my good things.
I'll build a bigger storage farm. Then I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years. Take your rest, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, Fool, this night your soul shall be required of you, and to whom you will leave what you have prepared for yourself. Who are you going to leave it to? You know, you can't take it with you. So shall it be with the one who lays up treasures for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Very, very poignant example. Paul understood that too. Paul said in Philippians 4, 11, he says, I am not saying this in respect of being destitute, for I have learned that whatever circumstances I find myself to be content, for I have experienced being brought low, and I have experienced abounding. In everything and in all things, I have been taught both to be full and to hunger, both to abound and to be without. I can do all things through Christ who empowers me.
You know, and I can say that a lot of us here have had that same experience, up, down, up, down, and eventually what we do is we realize God has it, he's got us, and he's going to take care of us. We just put our trust in our lives and our hope and our hearts in his hands. In Hebrews 6, 19, Paul says, and we talk about this scripture as well, One day you will be able to explain this to your brother.
You will see him again in the second resurrection. We talked about that. Hopefully at that time in the future, Hebrews 6, 19 says, Hope is the anchor of my soul. Hope is the anchor. What we hope in. We hope in the family of God. We hope in the resurrection. We hope in the second resurrection, when we'll see all of our families that hasn't understood someday, and we'll all be in the family. That hope is big. That hope is great.
That hope is powerful. It's what drives us. Hopefully at that time in the future, he's going to realize his error. When he comes up and he sees everything, and he sees you just standing there in glory, you can put your arms around him and give him a big, loving hug. And you'll gain your brother back. We talked about another story. This is how Christ wants us to be. The two brothers that live in the same family property.
This sounds exactly like this man's situation. There were two brothers that lived on the same family property. And they worked on the same family farm. And the older was married. And the younger brother was single. Every time at the end of the tiring day of work, the two brothers divided equally what they had done during the day. Both the grain and the profits, they divided it up. One day the younger brother suddenly thought to himself, you know, it's not fair to divide everything in half with you.
I am by myself. And I don't need much. Thinking so, he then, every night, he took some of the grain, put it in a bag, and he crossed a small field between the two houses. And he poured his bag into his brother's barn. And meanwhile, the older brother also thought to himself, it's not fair that I share everything equally with you. I have a wife and children, and I don't have to worry about anything anymore. But my brother is alone.
And he has no one to worry about his future. And so the older brother, every evening, also took some of his grain and poured it into the younger brother's barn. And both brothers were surprised when their grain never did reduce. It was always the same. It never went down. So one night, both brothers bumped into each other, carrying their bags across the field when they were carrying out their plan, and they realized and understood what the other one had been doing.
They dropped the bag of grain that was in their hands, and the two brothers emotionally hugged each other. They loved each other, and they were showing love for each other. And that's how God wants us to be, isn't it? And if it had been that way with this individual, the older man, things would have had a different outcome. The principle is, it is what we give that we receive. We will receive more than we give. That's the principle.
And that's the attitude that God wants us to have for our brothers, isn't it? And John tells us in 1 John 2, 8, he says, Again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness, and people who act that way are in darkness, aren't they, is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims that he is in the light, but hates his brother, is in the darkness until now.
The one who loves his brother is dwelling in the light, and there is no cause of offense in him. And you know why? Because when it occurs, and Christ said it would, he loves, he loves his brother. He doesn't retaliate. He's forbearing. He's patient. He lets it go. He tries to reconcile if it's not possible. He leaves this state with his arms out, waiting for his brother to turn around and come back. But his position is always with his arms out.
That's why there's no offense in him. And you know, here, no offense taken. That would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Verse 11, But the one who hates his brother is in darkness, and is walking in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. What does 2 Corinthians 4 say? In whom the God of this age, or this world, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them.
And there'll come a time, everyone in his own time, God has a plan and he's working it out, but he's working it out with us right now, isn't he? And we are responsible and accountable to see our brothers properly, as God wants us to see them and treat them that way. And I want to give kudos to this individual, the older brother, because of how he handled the situation. He was in love for his younger brother and his father, who didn't like him.
I would say almost hated him, in a way, in a degree. But yet he loved them both, and he did the right thing. When you are done wrong, how do we respond? What did Christ say? When we're done wrong, when you're going to be done wrong, it's promised, the persecuted, for righteousness' sake, it's going to happen. So he says in Luke 6, verse 35, what does he tell us to do? You know, we love our neighbors, we love God, we love our neighbor, we love those in the world, we don't love the world, but we see them in their potential for being gods in the second resurrection someday, and we love our enemies.
And that's very hard to do, because that's what Christ did. When you think about what he did, Father, you know, don't hold this to their charge. They don't know what they're doing. Luke 6, verse 35, he said, But love your enemies, and do good, and lend. Wow, you know, if the younger brother had thought about that, and lend, hoping for nothing again. You know, if they don't pay you back, I mean, they should pay you back, but if they don't, you let it go.
God will take care of it. And your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the highest. Now there's your reward, there's the treasure in heaven. That's what we're, the heavenly things, the heavenly gifts, the heavenly things we're looking forward to. For he is good to the unthankful and the wicked. Sunshine's on both. Rain comes down on both. Aware to be like God. Therefore, in verse 36, You also be compassionate, even as your Father is compassionate.
And do not judge others. This is a big subject. So that you yourself will not be judged in any way. So what are you doing when you judge? What are we doing? We're taking the place of God. We are becoming God. We are judging and condemning. And that's not for us. That's not our territory at all. That's not the mindset God wants us to have. That's not the motive God wants us to operate through. That's not love.
That's for God to do. And we can evaluate, make an evaluation. We hate the sin. We love the individual. So do not condemn others so that you will not be condemned in any way. Forgive and you shall be forgiven. Give and it shall be given to you. You know, think about the example of the widow and Elijah. And what was the family in the land? And Elijah pops up and here's the woman. She's got some meal in a barrel and some oil in a cruise.
And Elijah says, what are you doing? And she says, I'm going to make a cake and we're going to eat this and then we're going to die. That's how bad it was. So this is amazing. Elijah says, well, make that for me. What is amazing is she did. She did. Made it for him. And the next thing they know is that the barrel never goes down. The cruise of oil never diminishes. And they have plenty throughout that famine because she listened and she obeyed and she loved and she gave.
What about the five loaves and the two fishes? And long story short, 12 baskets were left, right? And that happened several times. So the principle of giving and receiving back more than you give is very, you know, Malachi talks about. Malachi 3 talks about that as well. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom. But with the same measure that you meet out, and this is in love as well, this is what motivates it, is love.
It shall be measured again to you. It's the principle of reciprocity. You know, you cannot give God. And we have a scarcity mentality. You have a pie and it's cut in eight pieces. It doesn't matter if it's cut in four, eight, six, whatever. You look at that and there's nine people in the room. You got to get a piece because there's not going to be any pie left. But it's not that way with God. It just continues.
It's always there. There's enough for everyone. There's enough for all. So we can learn from these examples of civil rivalry that we talked about in God's Word and outside. It teaches us what not to do and helps us to love our brother and love our neighbor properly. It shows us how we should treat our brothers and our family members and those in the world because we are in practice. We are in training for the future. We're all family.
It shows us how to love our neighbors. With the family of Abraham, Jacob and Esau, we'll talk about that for a minute. They had a lot of problems, didn't they? They had this sibling rivalry. There was jealousy and pride and envy. They couldn't let go and accept what God was doing. We're not going to go into detail on it. But just for example, Isaac and Ishmael. Again, Isaac was chosen. Ishmael was not. And there was a jealousy there.
There was a problem. The jealousy began and the jealousy continues and carried over to today. It carried over to Jacob and Esau. Now, Jacob wasn't right in what all happened here. But God eventually would give the birthright to Jacob. But Jacob decided he'd do it himself just like Abraham did and Sarah did when they were promised a child. They took it in their own hands. Jacob took it in his own hands. And it caused a problem.
They were twin brothers. Esau was the oldest. And a lot of this is written in the book of Obadiah. It tells us about what happened. It tells us about after, the children afterwards. Because what happened was Jacob, once he got the birthright, Esau was furious. He was really mad. Jacob had to leave. He took both and was gone for 20 years. He took his family and everything and he was gone for 20 years. Well, later he decided to come back and Esau was coming out to meet him with 400 men.
They were armed. There were 400 men and Jacob was concerned. So he breaks his family up and sends, in three different groups, sends them out. And Esau and Jacob meet. And they reconcile. And they hug and they are okay. Okay? But not the rest of the family. Esau's family carried a grudge. And they were upset. Generation after generation after generation. They held a grudge. And the animosity was under the coals. They even flared up generations later.
430 years later, after Israel was freed from slavery, Moses takes the children across the Red Sea. And they're moving into, they have to go past the sons of Esau, which was Edom. And they were waiting on them. They remember. In Numbers 20, it says, Numbers 20, it talks about the account. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the trouble that has happened to us, how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have lived in Egypt a long time.
And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice. He sent an angel and has brought us forth out of Egypt. And behold, we are in Kadesh, a city at the edge of your border. Let us pass, I pray you, through your country. We will not pass through a field or through a vineyard. We're not going to drink your water of will. We will just go by the king's highway and we'll just pass right through.
We will not turn from the right hand or the left until we have passed through your borders. That's a pretty good offer. But Edom remembered. Edom held a grudge. Edom was going to get revenge. Edom was bitter. They were jealous. And this was the story that had been passed down. It's sort of like the Hatfields and McCloys, even though it wasn't brothers. But it just went on through generation after generation. So what happens? So Edom says to him, You shall not pass by me, lest I come out against you with a sword.
And the children of Israel said to him, We will go by the highway, and if I and my livestock drink your water, then I'll pay you. Without doing anything, I will go through on my feet. And he said, You shall not go through. And Edom came out against him with many people and with a strong hand. So Edom refused to give Israel passage through the border. And Israel turned away from him. Now later on, Edom even checked his bow and hit them from behind and caused trouble and killed people.
And God was not happy with that. And the book of Obadiah talks about this. It talks about what happens when you turn on your brother. And when not only you turn on your brother, but you have joy in it. And you feel relish in it. I mean, you get an opportunity to get back at him. And God doesn't like that. You know, Moses asked permission to go through Edom on their way from Jerusalem. And the king of Edom said no and put up a military barricade.
As they went around, Edom attacked them from the rear as they went. And God was not happy. So we see the results of that pride and envy and jealousy and bitterness today in the Middle East. How does God look on this hatred for his brother, one brother for another? It's recounted in Obadiah. Let's look at Obadiah. Obadiah is just one book. And it talks about Jacob and Esau. And it's the most minor of the minor prophets.
You probably don't read a lot about Obadiah. It only has 21 verses. It's the shortest book in the Old Testament. It's two verses shorter than Jude. And the name means servant of Yahweh. Obadiah wrote the book at a time when Judah and Jerusalem were being invaded and plundered. It happened in 586 and 604 in two ways. When Nebuchadnezzar came in, the Babylonian army ransacked Jerusalem and deported most of the inhabitants into exile. The Enamites, Esau's descendants, participated in the ransacking of Jerusalem.
Matter of fact, they delighted in the misfortune of Israel. Eamon delighted in Judah's downfall. And they looked to benefit from the brothers' difficulty. And you can imagine how Israel felt our own brothers were turning against us. Now what did this older brother do in the first story I told you? He did the opposite of that. The younger brother was not going to give him anything. But the older brother handled it properly. The prophet Obadiah explains the attitude of Esau's descendants, Edom, toward their twin brother Jacob.
And God doesn't like this attitude and will repay Edom for their evil against their brother Israel. And I'm not sure we're going to have time to go through this whole thing. But Obadiah 1-9, it says, The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. For we have heard a message from the Lord, and a messenger is sent among the nations, saying, Rise up, and let us rise up against her for battle. Going against Edom.
And the book begins as God announces His plan to judge Edom. God reveals to Obadiah that He's declaring war on Edom for how they have treated their brother Jacob. How would you like to have that happen to you? How would you like to have God declaring war on you? It says, Behold, I have given you to be a small among the nations, and you are greatly despised. Now why is that? These other nations saw how Edom acted and treated and the attitude they had toward their brother.
And they didn't like it. They were allied with them, but they didn't like it. And they turned on Edom later. Because their attitude toward their brother and other nations see that. And they secretly despise Edom for it. Same thing. When you see somebody doing that, you may say hi to them in the grocery store, but you don't like what they're doing if you know about it. Because it's against morality. It's against the way God is. It's against the love that He wants us to have for our brother.
What caused them to respond like that? Pride. The pride of your heart has deceived you, it says. The pride, Edom, the pride of your heart has deceived you. You who dwell in the cliffs of the rocks, whose habitation is high up, who says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? You know, an attitude. I'm pretty big. Who's going to bring me down? Nobody. They were saying, look at me, I'm pretty tough. And I'm better than my brother.
Though you rise high like an eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says the Lord. Edom was great in their own eyes, but God will make them small. And you can't go against God. Edom was extremely proud. God speaks of the pride of her heart. Proverbs 13.10 says, Where there is strife, there is pride. And that's what causes the strife. Pride. Their love, in the 1 Corinthians 13.4, love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
That's the opposite. God will repay the wicked. Where Edom's pride came from, Edom had many reasons. Of course, you know, physically, he had reasons to be proud. They have these natural defenses. They were way up in the cliff of the rocks, you know, like Masada. They were in the same area of Masada. They held off the Romans for a long time. They were sandstone cliffs. They were about 5,000 feet high. So they were fortified. And they thought, Who can bring me down to the ground? Though you rise high like the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, I, God says, will bring you down from there.
Who can bring me down to the ground? God says, I can. Okay? Edom was proud because of their wealth. They were sitting on the king's highway. And they had trade routes. And they were making money. Handle for fifth with the tolls and the trade that they were doing, the caravans that went through. And that's the same way with us. If we get money and we get a lady to see an attitude and we don't count God in our lives and give him the credit for everything that we have and that we get and we do, then we get self-reliant.
We get self-determined. We get selfish. And we don't want to give to anyone. We don't want to see anyone as that we should be giving to them, whether it's our brother or not. Everyone is our brother. Everyone. Everybody is our brother. Okay, not even the grapes of harvest can be picked. Every grape. Every grape. You know, when you go through the leaning of the fields and the grapes, you leave some grapes. Well, they weren't doing that.
If peace came to you, if harvest by night, how have you been cut off? Would they not have sown until they had enough? If the grape gatherers came to you, would you not leave weanings? Edom didn't do this. Okay. They aligned with the Babylonians and they went in and ransacked Jerusalem. But how Esau will be ransacked? His hidden treasures pillaged. They get back what they gave. Verse 6, how are these things of Esau searched out? His hidden things are sought out.
And God finds them. Okay, we'll go on down through here. It's a very good book to read. It talks about how God does not like when you don't get along with your brother. When you even turn your back on him. And when you stab him in the back. And you take advantage of him being vulnerable or down. And you take advantage of it and you make gain on it. In Isaiah 2, 12, the Lord Almighty has a day in store for the proud and lofty.
For all that is exalted and they will be humbled. And we know that pride goes before destruction. And a haughty spirit before a fall. They had riches. They had terrain, the cliffs and the mountains. They were mighty. They just felt like they were better than everyone. And overconfident and wise in their own lives. And God brought them down. So, James 4, 1. What is the cause of quarrels and fighting among you? Is it not mainly from your own lust that are warring within your members? You know, when you see somebody that's upset and doesn't get along with people.
And is angry. There's something wrong. There's something wrong inside of you. And you need to understand that when you see that. And don't take offense to it. And pray for them and love them. And hope that God will help them see that their anger, where it's coming from. And that whatever is causing it, you know, Satan has a spirit of anger. But whatever is causing it in their lives, they see it and they get over it.
And they come to their senses and they get rid of it. And they learn to love instead of hate and be angry. You lust and have not. You kill and are jealous. And you're not able to obtain. You fight and quarrel. But still, you do not have. Because you do not ask. You're not asking God to help you see what's wrong. What the problem is. And maybe the problem is with you. And you're deceived. You're self-deceived.
What the Diocese says to Edom, the proud, Trust not in yourself or else God will bring you down. You know, there's much more. I'm only at verse 10. We can go on down through there. But it talks about them holding a grudge and gloating over their enemies and taking advantage of them. You know, you hear people say, or maybe you said, I'm glad that they're in trouble. That's what Edom was with Israel or with Judah. He was glad that they were in trouble.
They said, He deserves everything he's getting. I don't care. I'm not going to help him. All those people up there are bad. Have you ever heard that? They're all bad up there. Paint them all with a broad brush. You know, and I'm not going to go up there. Because all those people were bad. I heard that recently. I was shocked. I'm going to make sure he gets everything that is coming to him. I hope he has a miserable time.
Have you heard any of those things? Have you said them yourself? If we have, we need to think about what we're doing and what we're saying. And also when we hear it, we need to understand where it comes from and show that person love. Pray for them and help them to see. Hopefully they'll have their eyes open to it. And in the meantime, we don't respond negatively. When we have a forbearing attitude, a forgiving attitude, our arms are wide open.
So when it does happen, when it does come around, you're accepting that individual. Not the problem, but the individual in love. So don't gloat over our brother's tragedy. Okay, goes back to Jacob and Esau. But he also says in Deuteronomy 23-7, he says, You shall not detest Anitamite, for he is your brother. All this is happening. God says, Don't detest Anitamite, for he is your brother. So it goes both ways, doesn't it? So who is our brother? You know, we heard in Matthew 22, the lawyer says, Well, who is my brother? He's trying to get out of it.
While Christ was talking, they came up to him and said, Your mother and your brothers are outside. They want to see you. They want to speak to you. And he answered and he said, Who is my mother and who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold, all of you, my brother, my mother, and my brothers. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one is my brother and sister and mother.
Spiritual family. Romans 12.5. Likewise, we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each member of one another. Galatians 6.10 says so. So then, as we have opportunity, we should do good to all, especially to those of the household of faith. Are we bearing one another's burdens? Are we esteeming others better than ourselves? Or are we stubborn, proud, obstinate, recalcitrant? And no one's going to get over on me. I'm going to give them what they deserve, you know.
God hates pride. He hates it. The book of Obadiah shows us what happens when somebody's prided and just anger gets the best of them over their brother. The restitution of all things I mentioned earlier. In Acts 3.20, I try to encourage the man, and we talked about it, the older brother. He took it, you know, he took everything from him, and it showed him contempt. But there, I told him, there's going to be a time of restitution.
Acts 3.20 says, And thus he may send him who was before proclaimed to you Jesus Christ, whom the heavens must indeed receive until the time of restitution of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Of all things, Christ will come and make all things right. And what we're to do in the meantime is to love one another, love our brother. 1 Peter 3.8. Now the goal is that all of you be of one mind, sympathizing, loving the brethren, compassionate and friendly, not rendering evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but instead a blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you should inherit a blessing.
For the one who desires to love life and to see good days, let him restrain his own tongue from evil and not allow his lips to speak deceit. Let him avoid evil and let him continually practice good. Let him seek peace and let him earnestly pursue it. In conclusion, Christ told everyone that we are to lay down our lives for our brother. And that really is the key. And in many ways, how do you do that? And the detail of that and how we show our brother that we love him is in our time and in our life, in the heart, a minor attitude or motive toward them, toward others, outlawing, okay? I want to leave you with one last true example, okay? This is a true example of a brother loving his poor sibling, his love for his sibling.
That's what we're talking about here. You can think about how God would have us love our brother and how God would have us fulfill the scripture of laying down one's life for his friend or his brother. Well, this message, this little story typifies that. Dr. Jim Clark, again, this is a true story, was fighting for his patient Liz's life. The five-year-old had a rare disease and urgently needed a blood transfusion in order to survive. Her only hope was to receive a blood donation from her twin brother.
Not only because the sibling had the same blood type, but also because he himself had survived the condition that she suffered from. His blood, therefore, contained an antibody that could save Liz's life. When Jim asked the boy if he would agree to give blood for his sister, he was initially hesitant. But the doctor explained to him that it was the only way to save his sister's life. He agreed. The transfusion proceeded. The two siblings lay next to each other during the treatment, and the doctor was relieved as he saw the color turn back in Liz's face.
But when the procedure was finished, the young boy suddenly became very serious and asked the doctor a question that he will never forget. He said, So when will I die? When will I start to die? The boy must have thought that with his blood donation, he would be literally giving his life to save his sister's. The doctor reassured him immediately and clarified that, of course, he wasn't going to die. But Jim was struck by the profound and pure love behind the little boy's misunderstanding and shared this wonderful story on the internet.
You know, the little boy's innocence and unconditional proof of his love for his sister was there. It's like little children. That's who will inherit the kingdom. He is without a doubt the best brother in the world next to Jesus Christ. So as he was willing to do that, give his life for his sibling, are we willing to do that for our brothers? Are we willing to do it for one another and love our brother no matter what?
